


ghost

by youcouldmakealife



Series: it's a setup [15]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25600708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcouldmakealife/pseuds/youcouldmakealife
Summary: Joey’s probably thinking about how Scratch would react purely to avoid thinking about Owen not being interested in him which is —Oh. Still very fresh. Stillveryfresh and also painful and Joey would like to stop thinking about it right this second.
Relationships: OMC/OMC
Series: it's a setup [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669567
Comments: 34
Kudos: 321





	ghost

Joey waits outside for an Uber, wishing he’d driven so he wouldn’t have to linger at the scene of the crime of thinking he might have had a chance. He doesn’t know if he wants Owen to come running out and tell him it was a misunderstanding or if he never wants to see Owen again. 

Neither, really. Well, not that he doesn’t want Owen to say it was a misunderstanding, just that he knows it wasn’t. His face made it obvious. 

As for never wanting to see him again, it’s not Owen’s fault he doesn’t have feelings for Joey — who could blame him, really. And it’s not like Joey was only hanging out with Owen because he was interested in him. Like, did that have an impact? Obviously it did, but he likes hanging out with him as friends. He’s not an asshole, he wasn’t just hanging out with Owen, biding his time, hoping he’d be interested. It just feels, well. Shitty, like he told Owen. It’s the first time he’s laid himself out on the line since college, because he was pretty sure no one would want him, and well—

Confirmed, Joey guesses. He knew Owen was out of his league from the start, it was stupid to think the attraction would ever be mutual.

Owen doesn’t come outside before Joey’s Uber arrives, which is good. Maybe. Joey doesn’t know how he feels about it, or anything. Well, he does: rejected, so stung pride and hurt feelings and utter mortification are duking it out for the number one spot, and there isn’t really room for anything else.

Joey wants to text Scratch, but he has no idea what he’d even say. What, ‘Owen is totally not interested in me big surprise and also he thinks you’re my boyfriend for some reason haha’? He’s not sure how Scratch will react either. He might think it’s funny, which Joey can’t handle right now, but it’s much more likely he’ll be in protective ‘fuck Owen for not liking you’ mode, which Joey can’t handle either, especially because Owen didn’t do anything wrong. 

Or god, worst case, Scratch will be mortified that Owen thought he could possibly be gay and awkward with Joey afterwards, projecting a ‘no homo’ shield from space like Joey’s best friend in high school did after Joey came out to him. 

Joey literally hasn’t spoken to Connor once since they graduated, and yeah, Scratch isn’t like that at all, but there’s a line, right? A line between where you’re best friends with a gay dude and where someone assumes you’re in a relationship with him? It’s different like, not being homophobic about someone else’s sexuality but being uncomfortable if someone assumes _you’re_ gay, probably. 

He’s overthinking this. He knows he’s overthinking this, knows that Scratch isn’t going to ice him out over this any more than he iced him out when Joey came out to him in the first place. He fucking _cried_ when Joey told him, and hugged him as he thanked him for trusting him with that, and yeah, they were drunk as fuck at the time, and Scratch is an emotional drunk, but you can’t fake emotional drunk tears. Scratch is cool with it. So Joey’s probably thinking about how Scratch would react purely to avoid thinking about Owen not being interested in him which is —

Oh. Still very fresh. Still _very_ fresh and also painful and Joey would like to stop thinking about it right this second.

He doesn’t text Scratch, even though he wants to, because he doesn’t know what to say. Doesn’t know who to vent to, really. Not Scratch. Certainly not fucking Willy. He bets Owen would say yes to Willy in a heartbeat. And it’s not that Willy’s been leading him on, or even flirting with him, just using that Willy charm that works perfectly with that beautiful Willy face, but — Joey can’t talk to him right now, even though Willy didn’t do anything, at least on purpose, and even though he knows Willy would be sympathetic.

Not mom or dad, who’d both be sympathetic as well, in their different ways, but know nothing about this, and Joey’s not exactly up to giving a backstory to the very fresh rejection.

Case, then.

_Asked Owen out._ , Joey texts her.

_I’m assuming from the . instead of ! that he said no_ , Casey replies almost immediately. _really sorry joey_.

_you assumed correctly_ , Joey responds, then tucks his phone into his pocket as the Uber driver pulls up to his apartment.

He has a sad face emoji waiting for him when he gets out of the elevator, a Scratch sitting on his couch when he opens his door, because of course he is. No wonder Owen thinks they’re a couple.

“I got us bagels from Meshuggah’s,” Scratch says, not looking away from the TV. “And before you start bitching at me about calories, I—”

He must see Joey’s face then, because he breaks off to say, “What’s up? Did Zach—”

“No,” Joey says. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Scratch says. “What happened?”

“I asked Owen out today,” Joey says. “He thought I was already in a relationship.”

He’s half waiting for Scratch to laugh at his undateable ass before Joey’s even reached the true punchline, but he’s just silently looking at him. Worried about him, Joey guesses, considering obviously it didn’t go right, or Joey would be announcing it with glee.

“Guess who he thought I was in a relationship with,” Joey says, when Scratch doesn’t prompt him, can’t help the bitter laugh. Because seriously.

“I gotta do laundry,” Scratch mumbles.

“What?” Joey asks.

“I just remembered I gotta do laundry,” Scratch says. “Don’t have any shit ready for the road.”

“We don’t leave for two—” Joey says, but the door’s already shutting behind Scratch.

Maybe he got the subtext, is mad Owen thinks he’s gay, like Joey was worried he’d be, that the line between being friends with a gay dude and having people assume you’re with that dude is one that messes him up. Maybe he hadn’t even thought someone could assume that, that Joey could think about him like that, and he’s having a very, very belated homophobic panic. Joey doesn’t know. He just knows everything fucking sucks about today.

Joey sits down, then, after a moment, gets up to get a bagel, because he left before their food arrived. Fuck, stuck Owen with the bill for that. He should’ve paid. He usually wouldn’t be eating it — Scratch is right, if it was any other time Joey would be bitching at him, though more about empty carbs and their ridiculous heavy hand on the cream cheese than the calories — but fuck it.

There’s an everything bagel, heavy as hell on the cream cheese, then a whole wheat one with the slimmest little spread of cream cheese under the salmon, so he guesses Scratch asked them to go light on it.

_you forgot your bagel_ , Joey texts Scratch. He’s expecting a response, even if Scratch is being weird again — Joey cannot overstate his level of food motivation — but when Joey’s bagel is gone, the only text he’s received is from Casey, asking if he wants to talk about it.

_no_ , Joey texts back, then, immediately undermining himself, _he thought I was dating nick haha_.

_can you blame him?_ Casey texts back.

Joey picks an errant caper off his wrapper and pops it in his mouth. _five minutes or I’m eating your bagel_ , Joey texts Scratch, and waits for the inevitable _empty threat money_ that he’ll get, either that or Scratch bursting through the door to save his lunch.

He waits ten minutes. Nothing from Scratch, nothing from Case — not that Joey answered her last message — nothing from Owen. Joey isn’t hungry, but he goes back to the kitchen anyway, scrapes most of the cream cheese off Scratch’s bagel, imagining his indignant face as he does. He’d probably call it bagel desecration or something. Disrespecting the bagel. Not appreciating all the sacrifices that cream cheese made to make it to its bagel destination. 

The everything bagel tastes way better than the whole wheat one did. Joey might need to re-think his future bagel orders. If he’s going to be unhealthy it may as well taste good. Fuck, Scratch is corrupting him.

He’s halfway through it when his phone buzzes. It would serve Scratch right if he waited until now — Joey is fully prepared to scarf the second half in petty justice. But it’s Willy, with a, _Owen texted me. Are you ok?_

For one second Joey is blindingly furious, both at Owen for texting Willy when he isn’t texting Joey, for telling Willy, at Willy for clearly being more Owen’s type, rubbing Joey’s face in it.

And then it’s gone. Joey pretty clearly asked Owen for space when he was leaving, specifically said he’d talk to him tomorrow, so he can’t be mad at Owen for giving him the space he asked for. Can’t be mad at Owen for telling Willy either — if Owen didn’t Joey would have had to, considering Owen’s become a bit of a post-win fixture, so if he stopped showing up, or, worse, showed up and shit was visibly awkward, there’s no way Willy wouldn’t notice and ask about it.

And Willy likes being liked, _loves_ being loved, so Joey knows the preening he does isn’t meant as a barb even though it feels like one, knows he sent that text because he’s genuinely wondering if Joey’s okay, that if Joey says no he’ll happily offer a sympathetic ear, because one of the reasons everyone likes Willy is that he’s a nice guy. Also very talented and good looking and charismatic, but Joey suspects many guys who have those things going for them don’t bother to be nice, because they don’t have to be, can coast through life being an asshole. That’s not Willy, though. Willy’s never coasted, not with hockey, not with his duties as a franchise player, an A, a role model. Willy works hard for what he has, and Joey knows that, even when he’s furious that everything seems so easy for him.

He still doesn’t text him back, because he can’t right now, knows that if he talks to him he’s going to end up saying something mean and snippy and unfair even though he knows Willy’s just trying to help, because Willy’s like the definition of the guy Joey is never going to be able to be, not to Owen or to anyone. And that’s not on Willy, but it’s annoying as _fuck_ sometimes.

He ends up putting his phone down, walking away from it. He’s not even walking with an actual destination, just pacing through his apartment like some caged fucking animal because he has all these stupid, awful emotions, and no one to vent to about them, since Scratch went MIA, and he doesn’t want to talk to Willy, and Case will be sympathetic but not get it, and obviously Owen’s right the hell out.

It’s times like these that make it very obvious that Joey doesn’t actually have a lot of friends. Teammates, sure, guys he’s friendly with, hangs out with sometimes, favorite cousins he gravitates toward when the family meets up, absolutely, but really when it comes down to it all he’s got is his sister, who’s kind of obligated by blood and stuff, and his best friend, who’s currently ignoring him, and a teammate who’s friends with him but also with practically everyone else on the team, and a guy he likes, not that it’s mutual, and that’s it. He might not even have Owen anymore, if it’s too awkward to keep in touch. 

He starts packing, even though they aren’t leaving for two more days and he doesn’t have enough clean socks to finish the job, because he needs to do something with his hands right now other than tear his damn hair out. Does laundry, because it needs to get done and it’s another thing to do. His phone’s dead silent, and when he checks it between loads all he has is a text from Casey telling him if he wants to call to talk about it she’s done work at four-thirty.

_are you alive?_ Joey texts Scratch, not really expecting a response, but he gets a thumbs up within a minute. Joey squints at the thumbs up, tries to figure out what the fuck it’s meant to symbolize. That he’s alive, obviously, but Joey can’t tell if it’s passive-aggressive or not, if it means Scratch is pissed, or if he’s fine, or what.

_I ate your bagel_ , Joey texts him.

No response.

_are you mad at me for something or what?_ Joey texts finally out of frustration. _sorry I ate your bagel_

_no_ , Scratch replies, followed by, _just being weird dont worry you didnt do anything see you at practice_

Which is completely un-Scratchlike in every single way.

“What the fuck,” Joey says.

_fuck you for eating my bagel tho_ , Scratch adds after a minute, and Joey feels a little better seeing that, but he still thinks he’s going to need to take Casey up on that offer to call her.

_asshole_ , Scratch adds.

_no you_ Joey says. 

He waits for a _no you_ , or Scratch calling just to call him an asshole, but it doesn’t come.

“What the fuck,” Joey says again, and impatiently waits for Casey to finish her shift.

*

Talking to Casey doesn’t make anything better. If anything, it makes it worse. She hums sympathetically at all the right times, and lets him vent uninterrupted way longer than anyone other than maybe Scratch would. Well, she lets him bitch about Willy being perfect, and about Scratch being weird, but she cuts off his thing about being someone that no one could ever love pretty quick, which — fair. He probably sounds like a sad sack. A sad sack no one could ever love.

“Maybe Owen has a point?” Casey says finally.

“Not you too,” Joey says.

“No, I mean,” Casey says. “I can see where he’d get that impression, that’s all. You and Nick are kind of a package deal.”

“We’re friends,” Joey says. “I know you don’t have any…”

“Really, Joey?” Casey says. She’s probably got ten times as many friends as he does, so he must admit that wasn’t his best effort. She’s the kind of person who has like, a ‘yoga buddy’ and a ‘work wife’ and a ‘coffee friend’ and all that. Friends for certain occasions, with the exception of her friend Leila and her name twin Kasey, who get ‘besties’ and who’ve been around so long Joey considers them more like extra cousins than anything else at this point. Joey’s just got Scratch and the shitheads on the Scouts. Not Shithead, though. Shithead and Joey are at best colleagues who sometimes violently hug one another in the aftermath of a goal. And Casey, but Casey probably has him in the ‘blood related friend’ box or something, a step higher than their cousins.

“I wouldn’t call us _friends_ , exactly,” Casey says when Joey announces his suspicions.

“I’ve been rejected by the guy I like and my best friend’s currently ghosting me,” Joey says. “I’m going to cry myself to sleep tonight if my sister disowns me too.”

Casey snorts. “How is Nick ghosting you? You told me he called you an asshole for eating his bagel.”

“But he was _weird_ first,” Joey says. “And then he didn’t reply when I called _him_ an asshole. That’s Scratch for ghosting.”

“Okay, this is exactly my point,” Casey says.

“I don’t remember you having a point,” Joey says.

“My point is maybe if you’re interested in dating someone, not even necessarily Owen, you and Scratch should, you know, give each other a little more space,” Casey says. 

“That’s stupid,” Joey says. “What, I should be the dude who dumps his friends because he likes a guy?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Casey says. “I’m just saying that maybe—”

“I don’t need space,” Joey says.

Except it becomes obvious very quickly that Scratch doesn’t agree.


End file.
